Baseball On the Road Again for Single Game at Pitt

Wednesday, February 25

Pittsburgh, Pa.

3 p.m.

Bucknell University

Pittsburgh

Baseball On the Road Again for Single Game at Pitt

2/24/2026 4:42:00 PM | Baseball

Bucknell (1-5) at Pitt (4-2)

When: Wednesday, Feb. 25, 3 p.m.

Where: Charles L. Cost Field, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell baseball is gearing up for its first mid-week game of the 2026 season on Wednesday as it faces Pitt on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 3 p.m. on the road at Charles L. Cost Field.
The Bison are coming off of their first win of the season, as they took one game off of Radford in their three-game road series. The Highlanders got the best of the Bison in a 7-1 game one and while the Bison held three different leads in game two, the Highlanders walked it off with a two-run homer to take the game 11-9. Bucknell then took the final game of the series 4-1, holding the lead throughout.
The Bison hit .275 at the plate in the series while Radford hit .250.
Bucknell has hit eight home runs across its six games played with Michael Chiaravallo and Michael Trommer leading the group with two apiece.
Bison pitchers posted a 4.78 ERA compared to the Highlanders 4.18 ERA. Bucknell's pitching staff struck out 15 batters and surrendered 16 walks.
Brady Hoar earned Patriot League Pitcher of the Week (2/23/26) for his performance against Radford.
In game one, Jonathan Adelmann got the start and looked solid on the mound after Radford's three-run second inning. The right-hander allowed just one run on two hits over the next three innings. He finished after five innings with four runs on five hits, and only one run was earned as the Bison made two errors.
In game two, Everett Garber got through three scoreless innings before the Highlanders tagged him in the fourth. He finished his day with four runs, three unearned, on five hits.
In game three, Bucknell earned a 4-1 victory behind a dominant pitching performance by freshman Brady Hoar. Hoar gave the Bison a quality start as he tossed six innings of one-hit ball in just his second career start. Hoar allowed just one unearned run and struck out three batters. Fellow freshman Tyler Seidman pitched two scoreless innings in relief. Seidman allowed two hits and surrendered a walk, but fanned four batters to strand all three runners. Hadley Maxwell came in to earn the save with a three-up, three-down ninth inning.
Junior transfer Ty Lagoni was hot at the plate, going 5-for-10 with four RBIs. All four of his RBIs came in the first game, including his first home run in Orange and Blue.
Left fielder Michael Trommer went 2-for-4 at the plate in game one and then had two hits in each game of the Saturday double-header with eight total bases. He doubled in the first game and his homer in the ninth inning of the second game gave the Bison some added insurance.
Junior transfer Zach Selfon extended his hitting streak with a hit in each of his first six games for the Bison. In game one, Selfon went 1-for-4 at the plate with his run in the 9th being the Bison's lone score. Hitting out of the leadoff spot in the Saturday double-header, Selfon had three hits and three runs scored.
In Saturday's double-header, Bucknell used the longball in game one as Ryan Facinelli and Michael Chiaravallo joined Lagoni in hitting two-run homers for six of Bucknell's runs.
Senior Ryan Facinelli was named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team and was a Second Team All-Patriot League selection in 2025.
Head coach Scott Heather is in his 14th season at the helm, and he is the third-longest tenured coach in program history. Heather's 242 career wins are second-most in team history, trailing only Hall-of-Famer Gene Depew (591).
Coach Heather is assisted by Jason Neitz (16th season), Brett Smith '17 (6th season) and Josh Kieffer (5th season).

Pitt at a Glance/Series History

Pitt is 4-2 to start the 2026 season, taking two of the three games played at the Kleberg Bank College Classic in Texas.
The Panthers defeated Long Beach State 6-2 after being down one run in the bottom of the sixth and then scoring five unanswered runs to take the win.
Pitt then blanked Cal State Bakersfield 14-0, with pitcher Vincent Spizzoucco stealing the show by allowing just two base runners over seven scoreless innings with six strikeouts.
In their last time out, the Panthers fell to Texas A&M -Corpus Christi 5-2 after putting several runners on base early in the game, but being unable to take advantage of those opportunities until the top of the fifth inning, when they were already down and couldn't come back.
Pitt is hitting .300 as a team through its first six games.
The Panthers pitching staff has posted an overall 4.15 team ERA.
AJ Nessler is 10-for-23 at the plate with five RBI's. Julian Irizarry is second on the team with eight hits and six RBI's on 20 at bats. Kai Wagner follows closely behind with nine hits and six RBI's on 24 at bats.
Five other Panthers have tallied five or more hits so far on the season; Trey Fenderson (7), Joey Baran (5), Caden Dulin (5), Sebastian Pisacreta (5) and Lorenzo Carrier (5). Jackson Cooke has had four hits and Carter Dierdorf and Anthony LaSala round out the group with one hit each.
Three different Panthers have started two games each on the mound. Vincent Spizzoucco has allowed just two runs, both earned, on four hits in 10 innings pitched. David Leslie has allowed three runs, all earned, on eight hits in 9.2 innings pitched. Drew Lafferty has allowed eight runs, all earned, on 13 hits in eight innings pitched.
Pittsburgh leads the all-time series with Bucknell 31-21, dating back to 1908 when the Panthers won two games over the Bison, 4-3, 5-4.
The last time the two teams met up was last season in 2025 when the Bison downed the Panthers 7-3 in a single-game meeting.

Looking Ahead

The Bison will next host Merrimack for the home-opening series beginning on Friday, February 27 at 2 p.m. at Depew Field at Marren Park. The series continues on Saturday at 12 p.m., followed by the final game on Sunday at 12 p.m.